Hawkadeus wrote:I say give Kearse a look. He's got to have more upside than Charly Martin.

i don't see why you say that, all i saw in the pre season was charlie martin and kearse making plays.. i'm a coug so i didn't see a lot of kearse in college, didn't see all the easy drops... but i did see good catches in pre season, and charlie marting, that little dude's got heart... i say give it a shot...

Bummer about Obo, IMO he contributes more to the team than most people realize and is quite versatile. He has always performed at least adequately (and sometimes very well) when our starters have gone down and we needed him to fill in.

Kearse? I dunno, the dude is just sooo frustrating to watch. Almost Braylon Edwardsesque in his ability to make crazy freak circus catches one minute and then have a perfectly thrown ball bounce right off his hands the next minute. I hope he can fix it, seems like a focus issue to me, but he never fixed it in college.

I'd like to see the team give a look to both Jordan Shipley and Greg Salas. I was pretty high on both of these guys coming out of college, especially Salas.

HansGruber wrote: We lost both games the last two weeks (SF & DET) because of dropped passes.

We lost to SF because of dropped passes, absolutely.

We lost to Detroit because our D had a pretty bad day and our normally very bad 3rd down defense was downright horrible.

Reading Obo's tweets the other day, I felt for him with the Hawks not waiting a couple weeks to get better. But given the fact that our only healthy wr's this week are Rice, Tate, Martin, and Kearse, YIKES! I understand now.

Hawkadeus wrote:Reading Obo's tweets the other day, I felt for him with the Hawks not waiting a couple weeks to get better. But given the fact that our only healthy wr's this week are Rice, Tate, Martin, and Kearse, YIKES! I understand now.

Based on what Obo has contributed this year, I'd say that his chances of making the team next year are slim.

Hawkadeus wrote:Reading Obo's tweets the other day, I felt for him with the Hawks not waiting a couple weeks to get better. But given the fact that our only healthy wr's this week are Rice, Tate, Martin, and Kearse, YIKES! I understand now.

If Pete's pet, the golden child, can somehow become cognizant of the need to block for teamates consistantly, there is plenty of additional yardage built into the existing pass schemes. The golden child has been pulled off the field of play for failure to block. Kearse and others should benefit from better blocking support than what Obomanu experienced.

Teamates blocking for each other is a key theme. It's why Deon Butler is no longer with us and why even the golden child is so closely supervised this year.

Thanks for the warm welcome. Been reading through the posts and getting a lot of great insight.

Chapow wrote:I'd like to see the team give a look to both Jordan Shipley and Greg Salas. I was pretty high on both of these guys coming out of college, especially Salas.

Now this is something I like to see. I wonder why Salas didn't catch on with the Rams. If memory serves me correct, I think he had some really bad drops early on last year, but then again St. Louis had a lot of that last year. Still Salas or Shipley could be great 3rd down relief value type receivers.

Jville wrote:If Pete's pet, the golden child, can somehow become cognizant of the need to block for teamates consistantly, there is plenty of additional yardage built into the existing pass schemes. The golden child has been pulled off the field of play for failure to block. Kearse and others should benefit from better blocking support than what Obomanu experienced.

Teamates blocking for each other is a key theme. It's why Deon Butler is no longer with us and why even the golden child is so closely supervised this year.

This year, reliable blocking is mandatory. It is no longer an option.

If you want a blocking WR then Lavasier Tuinei is your man. Blocking is more important then catching and scoring TD's for Oregon wide receivers.

Jville wrote:If Pete's pet, the golden child, can somehow become cognizant of the need to block for teamates consistantly, there is plenty of additional yardage built into the existing pass schemes. The golden child has been pulled off the field of play for failure to block. Kearse and others should benefit from better blocking support than what Obomanu experienced.

Teamates blocking for each other is a key theme. It's why Deon Butler is no longer with us and why even the golden child is so closely supervised this year.

This year, reliable blocking is mandatory. It is no longer an option.

If you want a blocking WR then Lavasier Tuinei is your man. Blocking is more important then catching and scoring TD's for Oregon wide receivers.

It's unfortunate for Obo that in the last round of negotiations that the NFL Players didn't get much larger rosters and a system that matches baseball and basketball for injury situations. I believe in the last round baseball was able to get a 5 day DL designation put in, and they can use it retroactively on a guy who happens to heal up quickly (which is especially good for a starting pitcher who is up in the rotation). I just think footballs rules on injuries have always been way too strict as far as the guy is out for the entire season, or he is cut. It's beneficial to the owners financially, but as far as team building goes, it would make more sense to be able to keep guys around for a bit and be able to use different designations. This really does screw Obo as far as playing this year goes (and thus his chances of making a living next season), but those are the rules. They don't have the option to put him on the 15 day DL, or to keep him on the roster because they have 60 roster spots and can just wait it out for him to get healthy.

Face it... it's an injury filled sport. Just turn the practice squad spots into normal roster spots and keep the gameday rosters at the same size. That way you can have 60+ guys on the roster. I'd say 63 is about right and makes sense. It will lead to less injuries if you increase gameday rosters by even a couple of players. Let's see the owners and commissioner walk the walk on that one. Would they be admitting that an 18 game schedule is stupid and that guys aren't suffering traumatic brain injuries if they let teams suit up way more players on Sunday for additional rotations and giving guys breathers? Too many times I've seen a guy have to play hurt because a team is OUT of players at a particular position on gameday. That doesn't happen in baseball because they have 25 guys on the roster (+ - depending on the time of year).

Scottemojo wrote:I am with Greg on this one, special teams play is one of those things where tackles don't mean much. I have seen Obo force the punt/kick returner to react too many times to think he won't be missed on special teams.

With Harvin returning kicks, Obo might be missed rather severely. It is not a small thing at all. Especially since Robinson, also a special teamer, might be missing as well.

HawkWow wrote:Someone should tweat Obo the fact the Hawks have waited years for him to get better. If he wants to bitch, he should bitch at past coaches for not telling him he was a CB.

Not like we were expecting Larry Fitz when we drafted him in the 7th round. He's already outperformed expectations by not being cut.

That pretty much sums up the situation, don't it? This is a guy that is likely sweating bullets every time it's tme to get down to 53...but he has the audacity to publicly suggest the Hawks quit on him? WTF? Gimme' a break, Obo. Good luck in Canada.

Yeah, how anyone can find fault in Obo is beyond me. He's what NFL #5's are about; solid on special teams, provide average WR ability, and not make you sign TO if injuries hit.

I never got freaked out when/if Obo was put into duty or pushed into starting. When the ball was thrown his way, he caught it. Yeah, he fell down immediately after the catch, but he caught it. The definition of servicable.

pehawk wrote:Yeah, how anyone can find fault in Obo is beyond me. He's what NFL #5's are about; solid on special teams, provide average WR ability, and not make you sign TO if injuries hit.

I never got freaked out when/if Obo was put into duty or pushed into starting. When the ball was thrown his way, he caught it. Yeah, he fell down immediately after the catch, but he caught it. The definition of servicable.

The only time he didn't catch the ball well was the game at Arizona. Even with that though, he was open quite a lot. He could've had the game winner too, because T-Jack threw it to him on 3rd down in overtime, and he was in field goal range and he dropped it......

Hawkstorian wrote:Goodness -- lots of negative vibes towards Obo. The dude gave everything he had to give, and is pissed he can't keep playing. Who can blame him? He's supposed to be happy he's done for the year?

Show the guy some respect.

Pretty pathetic if you ask me. And shines a giant spotlight on the type of fans that don't exactly understand the finer nuances of the game. "Score TD's or get the hell out!"

Obomanu has been a great role player for this team over the years. If you don't understand that, it says more about you than anything.

How dare Ben gets disappointed that he can't go out and earn his money on the field. HOW DARE HE????

Come on guys. He is a competitor. What would you have said if he said, "pheewwwww, glad that season is over and now I get to sit home and get paid!"

He can't win with many of you. He's been one of our most solid all around players for several years. I think he deserves some respect and understanding for being frustrated that he can't be out there playing hard for OUR team. That's what he loves. I bet as a competitor it felt like a big fat kick in the junk to be told, "sorry, we're going with somebody else." If he isn't mad then I don't want him on my team. I love Obo's attitude and he's been a darn good player for what he was predicted to do by the "draft experts". He has stuck on a team for years and been one of our most important players on special teams and as a wide receiver always being there to pick up where somebody else left off when they were hurt. Now he's hurt and the team just basically shuts him down and calls it a year. That'd frustrate the heck out of me if I were Ben.

Jville wrote:If Pete's pet, the golden child, can somehow become cognizant of the need to block for teamates consistantly, there is plenty of additional yardage built into the existing pass schemes. The golden child has been pulled off the field of play for failure to block. Kearse and others should benefit from better blocking support than what Obomanu experienced.

Teamates blocking for each other is a key theme. It's why Deon Butler is no longer with us and why even the golden child is so closely supervised this year.

This year, reliable blocking is mandatory. It is no longer an option.

If you want a blocking WR then Lavasier Tuinei is your man. Blocking is more important then catching and scoring TD's for Oregon wide receivers.

If that's the case then activate him immediately! One of the main reasons we lost in Detroit is that their receivers can block (it's my opinion they were taught by Burleson) and ours either can't or won't. If you re watch that game you will see that a lot of the first downs they got were due to excellent blocking. Especially the one that got them off the goal line. But then again, there should have been 2 DBs there to cover those guys and not just Sherman.

Our guys on the other hand (Achootate!) couldn't hold a block for half a second.

I would love to have him here because he is a great possession receiver and imho, would be way better than Kearse or Martin, especially in the long run. His knee is probably fine and iirc he didn't have too many drops.

"03/08/2012 - Washington Pro Day: Kearse enjoyed a strong workout, as well, clocking in much faster today (4.44) than he did at the Combine (4.58) and catching every pass that I saw touch his hands. He and Locker didn't connect on a couple of deeper throws, including on a post-corner in which NFL personnel were overhead chiding Kearse for not getting his head around quickly enough to locate the ball. - Rob Rang, NFLDraftScout.com "

Release: Has the straight-line speed to challenge cornerbacks deep so is often met with zone or man-off looks

The Bad:

Hands: Flashes the ability to be a big-time receiver, but struggles with drops. Can extend and pluck outside of his frame, demonstrating the ability to make the highlight reel reception, but too often attempts to make a move on the defender before adequately securing the football, allowing passes into his chest and others than simply slip through his hands. Even worse, some of his drops came at critical moment"

Hawkstorian wrote:Goodness -- lots of negative vibes towards Obo. The dude gave everything he had to give, and is pissed he can't keep playing. Who can blame him? He's supposed to be happy he's done for the year?

Show the guy some respect.

Pretty pathetic if you ask me. And shines a giant spotlight on the type of fans that don't exactly understand the finer nuances of the game. "Score TD's or get the hell out!"

Obomanu has been a great role player for this team over the years. If you don't understand that, it says more about you than anything.

Precisely. Every NFL team has room for a guy like Obomanu, who contributes in multiple capacities. No, he's never been a breakout star WR, but we didn't draft him to be that kind of player.

Now, all that said, it's not surprising to me that the Hawks decided to IR him and promote Kearse. Obomanu just turned 29, and his time in the league means his minimum salary is pretty significant. The team knows it will have to move on from Obomanu after next season at the latest, and they need to see who can fill his role as a versatile depth WR and key special teams player.

Hawkstorian wrote:Goodness -- lots of negative vibes towards Obo. The dude gave everything he had to give, and is pissed he can't keep playing. Who can blame him? He's supposed to be happy he's done for the year?

HawkWow wrote:Someone should tweat Obo the fact the Hawks have waited years for him to get better. If he wants to bitch, he should bitch at past coaches for not telling him he was a CB.

Not like we were expecting Larry Fitz when we drafted him in the 7th round. He's already outperformed expectations by not being cut.

That pretty much sums up the situation, don't it? This is a guy that is likely sweating bullets every time it's tme to get down to 53...but he has the audacity to publicly suggest the Hawks quit on him? WTF? Gimme' a break, Obo. Good luck in Canada.

Oh brutha! I can't believe what I'm reading here. If letting the fans know that he wanted to gut it out rather than sit in the rehab room is audacious, I don't know what to do other than shake my head. Year after year the hawks have kept this guy for a reason, so he oviously has something to contribute.

pehawk wrote:Who knows? Maybe Kearse can be the Damon Huard of UDub WR's? A flawed, yet productive collegiate athlete who finally "gets it" in the pros.

That's how I feel. Kearse obviously has upside beyond what UW fans saw. Otherwise he wouldn't have made an NFL practice squad (which I admit, I was surprised by), stuck this long, and been the team's first choice to fill in for Obo. You hear teammates and coaches talk up his play from practice. And guys like Sidney Rice saying he might have the best hands in the unit. Who knows? Maybe things click for him. I certainly feel it's worth a look. I haven't been impressed by what I've seen from Charly Martin.

-The Glove- wrote:A good sign is a lot of players went out of their ways to congratulate and praise Kearse upon being promoted. That bodes well for how the locker room views him as a player and contributor

Indeed. I'll reserve judgment, as I've never been a college FB afficionado anyway.

-The Glove- wrote:A good sign is a lot of players went out of their ways to congratulate and praise Kearse upon being promoted. That bodes well for how the locker room views him as a player and contributor

Indeed. I'll reserve judgment, as I've never been a college FB afficionado anyway.

Neither am I. But I sure am hoping and praying he can be a solid contributor